Southeastern Signs 1st Class for Football

LAKELAND | New Southeastern University football coach Keith Barefield doesn't have a schedule finalized yet, and he won't have a home field for another year.

By MIKE COBBLEDGER CORRESPONDENT

LAKELAND | New Southeastern University football coach Keith Barefield doesn't have a schedule finalized yet, and he won't have a home field for another year.

He does, however, have some players. The school, which will begin football in 2014, announced the signings of 30 players as part of Southeastern's first football recruiting class on Wednesday, which was National Signing Day for NCAA schools.

Southeastern, along with Warner and Webber International, are NAIA schools are are not bound by the same signing rules as the NCAA. In fact, they are free to sign players at about any time, Barefield said.

"Technically by NAIA rules, I could've signed kids months ago," Barefield said. "I can sign them any time. There's no real signing period.

However, he said that he likes to have his players be part of signing day.

"It's become such a tradition that signing day is such a big deal," he said. "A lot of kids like the thought of signing on the same day with the Division I schools sign. I use it and a lot of coaches use it as a target date to have the key people sign."

Webber also announced the signing of 19 high school players as well as 15 transfers to complete a recruiting class of 34 players. Warner University, which begins its first season this fall, did not announce its list of signees on Wednesday.

Southeastern becomes the third program in Polk County and the 15th program in the state of Florida at any level.

Southeastern's first recruiting class will spend the 2013-14 school year practicing as the school builds toward its first season of play in 2014.

Among the 30 players the Fire have signed are two from Victory Christian in Lakeland — punter Grant Blackburn and quarterback Hunter Hotchkiss. He also signed six players from Tallahassee Godby's Class 5A state championship team, and five from Belle Glade Glades Day, a program with seven state championships including three in the past seven seasons.

Webber, meanwhile, is looking to rebound from last fall's 4-6 team. With a young team from last fall combined with a recruiting class of 34 players, Warriors coach Kelly Scott is excited about the direction of his program.

"I think we got what we're looking for, and we're not finished yet," Scott said. "We're excited with the nucleus we have coming back and what we have coming in."

Among the 15 transfers is former Frostproof quarterback and linebacker Donald Brown.

In other signing news, Polk State College announced Wednesday that it has signed nine baseball players and five softball players.

Softball signees include catcher Brianna Avirett of Lake Wales, outfielder Kayla Williams of Auburndale and third baseman Erica Morrissey of Mulberry as well as infielder Harley Rimes of Starke and infielder Shelias Oliver of Interlachen.